Just about a year ago the big sand pine in the Tilly Garden at Blue Hen Farm got struck by lightning: see the post
The strike split the gate post and travelled underground into the main house where it took out some of the major electronics.

This past week we battened down the hatches as Hurricane Hermine came ashore just north of Citrus County in the wee hours of Sept 2nd. We lost power when a large tree branch came down on the wires just inside the main gate. The lightning also hit our Tilly Garden tree once again!

This time it blew the top of the tree off, which came down and took out the corner post of the South Woods fence behind the livestock pens. That tree really needs to come down…it’s a real lightning rod!

All toll, the damage was minimal. We lost power and water for about 24 hours, more of an inconvenience than anything. What it adds up to is that we got all our rain for the summer (5 1/2 inches) in one shot!

Happy Homesteading,

T.